Yikes! My Marketing isn’t Working!

My marketing isn’t working is a statement that I hear just about every week. When I start to ask people about their branding, I always get the same surprised look. Then that person usually says something like, “I’ll worry about branding when my marketing is on track”.

I have to tell you, that’s not how it works. Branding and marketing go hand in hand, and you need to be working on both things simultaneously. Think of it this way:

Marketing is how you get leads. Branding is what makes them choose YOU.

Really think about that for a minute. You’ve just dropped a chunk of cash sending out direct mail campaigns that are pretty much getting you zero results. One of the main reasons for that is most likely because you have completely neglected to build a brand. There are also a couple of other reasons what we will go over in a minute.

Taking Stock

When your marketing isn’t working, the first step is to take stock of everything you are doing. What are all of your marketing activities? List them all out.

They might include:

Direct mail

Bandit signs

Networking

Websites

Craig’s list, Zillow etc.

Calling expired listing

Or anyone of a dozen other strategies

Then, ask yourself these questions.

Am I marketing consistently?

Am I targeting the right group of people?

What is it I should be doing that I’m not doing? (You know what that is.) No judgement here, but you do have to own where you are to get where you want to go.

Once you have listed out all your marketing activities, be honest and list the exact frequency of those marketing activities. List everything you are doing whether it is daily, weekly, monthly or some other frequency.

If you have big gaps in your frequency, I can almost promise you that’s one of the problems. Marketing cannot be a hit or miss thing. Consistency is one of the keys to generating a steady stream of leads.

The Next Piece of the Puzzle: Your Brand

It used to be that BI (before the internet), only the big companies like Coca Cola had to worry a lot about branding. The local heating and air-conditioning company could run a few local ads, give great customer service and stay in business. That’s not true anymore. When your marketing isn’t working, the failure to build a strong brand is almost always part of the problem.

Whether or not you intend to have a global brand, because of the internet, you can be found by everyone. It’s no longer optional to build a brand for your business. In most cases, you will be the brand in our business.

Remember, that all your marketing has to touch people in some way that makes them take action. Whether that is to call you, to fill out a form on your website or take some other action, once they have found you, what exactly is it that they will find? You need to ask yourself these 4 questions:

What makes you special?

What differentiates you from your competitors?

How have you branded yourself so that you are memorable?

The big questions is ”why” should they choose you?

Where Does Branding Matter?

Everywhere.

It matters everywhere people have contact with you whether that’s on your website, social media, on your marketing pieces or even in the way present yourself when you’re networking. Your goal should be to build a consistent presence both online and offline.

What if You Know Your Branding Sucks?

What steps have you taken to build a brand that will make you stand out from your competition? If you need help with that, let me know.

If you would like to schedule a 1 on 1 call with me to talk about specific strategies for building your brand and creating more effective marketing for your business, you do thathere by clicking this link.

Have you gotten your freebies here on the blog? If not be sure to do that today so you don’t miss any of the business building tips I have coming your way. I want this year to be your best year ever! And if you enjoyed this article, please share it.